Mixed Features of Depression: Why DSM-5 Is Wrong (And So Was DSM-IV).

Mixed features of depression: why DSM-5 is wrong (and so was DSM-IV).

Br J Psychiatry. 2013 Jul; 203: 3-5
Koukopoulos A, Sani G, Ghaemi SN

The DSM system has never acknowledged a central position for mixed states; thus, mixed depressions have been almost completely neglected for decades. Now, DSM-5 is proposing diagnostic criteria for depression with mixed features that will lead to more misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment of this syndrome. Different criteria, based on empirically stronger evidence than exists for the DSM-5 criteria, should be adopted. HubMed – depression

The Mediator Role of Psychological Morbidity in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain in Differentiated Treatments.

J Health Psychol. 2013 Jul 1;
Ferreira MS, Pereira MG

This study analyzed the mediating role of psychological morbidity and the variables that discriminated low versus high disability, in patients receiving physiotherapy and acupuncture. A total of 203 patients answered measures of illness and medication representations, coping, depression, anxiety, quality of life, and functional disability. Morbidity was a mediator between functional disability and quality of life. Treatment consequences and quality of life, in the acupuncture group, and emotional representations, quality of life, depression, anxiety, and active strategies for pain relief, in the physiotherapy group, discriminated patients with low versus high disability. These results have important implications for identifying high-risk patients. HubMed – depression

Subjective social status, self-rated health and tobacco smoking. Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

J Health Psychol. 2013 Jul 1;
Camelo LV, Giatti L, Barreto SM

Using baseline data from ELSA-Brasil (N = 15,105), we investigated whether subjective social status, measured using three 10-rung “ladders,” is associated with self-rated health and smoking, independently of objective indicators of social position and depression symptoms. Additionally, we explored whether the magnitude of these associations varies according to the reference group. Subjective social status was independently associated with poor self-rated health and weakly associated with former smoking. The references used for social comparison did not change these associations significantly. Subjective social status, education, and income represent distinct aspects of social inequities, and the impact of each of these indicators on health is different. HubMed – depression